Pride of Africa casts its net of recognition towards this son of Africa who is blazing a trail in America. His chosen field? Basketball.
Ime Udoka is a 44 year old Nigerian-American, born in Oregon to Nigerian parents. Despite expressing his desire to play basketball from a young age, he didn’t exactly have it his way. The highly competitive nature of the NBA saw him waived by FIVE different teams as he struggled to prove his worth.
At some stage he had to take his trade to places like Argentina, Spain and France in order to get playing time in the sport. He finally made it into the NBA in 2006 where he made a big impression as a player and a leader.
Ime took the decision to represent Nigeria in 2005, featuring creditably in the 2005 and 2011 FIBA Africa Championships as well as in the 2006 FIBA World Championships.
He went into coaching afterwards and served as Assistant Coach for the USA Basketball team all the way to the 2019 FIBA World Championships where he met, made an impression with, and formed good relations with players of Boston Celtics, who all came together to advocate for his hiring as Head Coach of their team.
Today Ime Udoka makes history as the first African to lead, as Head Coach, an NBA team – the Boston Celtics – to the NBA finals. As Boston Head Coach, he managed 82 games so far and won 51 of those games – a winning percentage of 62.
A tall order, with Golden State Warriors and its Head Coach a real formidable performer with bags and bags of experience.
But from the journey of Ime Udoka, how far he’s come and what he stands for, we recognise and celebrate him as a true Pride…..of Africa